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Marathon, Florida Keys
Capt. Bob Brown
January 18, 2004
Marathon - Saltwater Fishing Report
Whale Watching In The Florida Keys!
I don't want to belittle the fantastic Sailfish action we have had here in Marathon this past week, but and unexpected Whale encounter was the highlight of the week and maybe the year here in Marathon for a few lucky anglers on Thursday. While Sailfishing with my two customers, Tim and Larry Tolliver of Madiera Beach, FL., I spotted a rather large black object bobbing up and down on the edge of the current rip off of Sombrero light. Since the gulfstream has been right on the reef edge the past couple weeks, there have been all kinds of things floating on by in the 3 knot current that has been ripping along the keys. For a moment, I thought maybe it was another large garbage bag or log or something until I saw a large spouting of air & water that only a blow hole of a whale could produce. We quickly wound in the lines and moved closer to ivestigate to find it was a Humpback whale of about 35ft in length. Two other boats were in the vacinity and we moved up close for a look. The whale must have been curious about us as it stayed near the surface circling the boats, going under the boats, popping back up and blowing air, and going under the boats again. Normally a whale would go back down for about 10-15 minutes and then resurface. But I think this one wanted to see who we were and hung with us for about 15 minutes before finally going down and not returning. After talking it over for a while and looking at whale photos on the internet, Capt Randy Rode, who also viewed the whale along with his customers, and I determined it was probably a juvenile Humpback whale. It wasn't as large as an adult as it was only about 35 ft long but was still quite a sight as it circled around the boats.
Humpback whale sightings are rare off of the Keys and most captains that spend countless hours on the ocean for many years can probably count on one hand how many times they have seen large whales. I have seen a few pigmy sperm whales that beached themselves for what ever reason, and lots of whale sharks, but that is only the second large whale I have seen in the 31 years I have been fishing off the Keys. So it was a special experience for the three lucky boats and anglers that happened to be in the right place at the right time that day!
Sailfish explosion!
The ripping easterly current that I mentioned above has helped the good Sailfishing turn to great the past couple of weeks. Yesterday we had 10 fish hooked up by noon, actually catching 6 and just missing the leader on a couple of others. The action was all in the morning hours as we only had one sailfish bite that we missed after 12:30PM until we headed in around 3:45. All the boats in the Marathon area that were after Sails were telling success stories and many had multiple hook-ups. We had one quadruple header that quickly ended up a double header after losing two of the four. Shortly after getting our lines back in we had another double header and had several singles after that. Look for this hot bite to continue as long as this current condition continues off of Marathon. Fishing should remain good for Sailfish the rest of the winter as well. A few nice Dolphin and King Mackerel have been filling out the catches on the reef edge along with an odd ball Blackfin Tuna or two.
Reef Bite Slows a bit
The Snapper Grouper action has been a bit tougher the past few days, but was starting to rebound yesterday as water temps were finally starting to warm on the reef. Look for a good Yellowtail bite this week after the wind swings around to the north. If you would like more information on fishing in the Marathon and middle Keys area, check out our web site.
Good luck in all of your fishing adventures!
Capt. Bob Brown, Jr.
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